Surprisingly, this story doesn’t involve any alcohol.
Antonio Esfandiari was disqualified from this week’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,000 main event tournament for the strangest reason we’ve ever heard of — urinating in a bottle under the table. In case you’re wondering, there is no rule against getting up and going to the bathroom during a poker tournament. The problem, according to Esfandiari himself, was that he simply couldn’t walk anymore.
From his official statement:
“This happened because of a big prop bet I had with my buddy Bill Perkins that mandated I lunge everywhere for two days. I cannot explain the pain I felt in my legs. I did what I thought was the best play at the time. Looking back now I realize it was a terrible judgment call on my behalf. I am a new father now, and this is not the kind of example I want to set for my son.
So Esfandiari had to lunge literally everywhere he walked for 48 straight hours. And he did, winning $50,000 from Perkins in the process. Here’s PokerStars’ official Twitter account documenting the lunging.
If you were wondering how Antonio Esfandiari’s day ended yesterday…we were there. https://t.co/nrybxLSTY5 pic.twitter.com/fOCBgOUmrS
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) January 11, 2016
After forfeiting his $5,000 tournament entry fee, the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner still comes out ahead $45,000.
“I can sit here and try to explain and justify but at the end of the day my actions were completely unacceptable,” said Esfandiari. “What’s done is done.”
“All I can do is learn from my mistakes and grow from them. I have apologized to anyone and everyone who may have been affected and will continue to do so.���
He says he will donate the money from winning the prop bet to charity to try and make up for his deplorable table behavior. Considering he has won over $26 million in poker tournaments throughout his career, we think he can probably afford it.